


no seasons for hiding

by the_crownless_queen



Series: Sapphic September 2019 [8]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: (and her gf Marlene), AU in which Harry is raised by Dorcas, F/F, Gen, Harry Potter was Raised by Other(s), Sapphic September 2019, but that Harry is raised by Dorcas is pretty much all you need to know, set in the verse of a longer fic I'll probably write someday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:34:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23845279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_crownless_queen/pseuds/the_crownless_queen
Summary: It only belatedly occurs to Dorcas that maybe trusting Molly's kids, which have often been referred to as 'little hellions', to babysit Harry might not have been the smartest idea.- an AU in which Harry is raised by Dorcas Meadowes (and Marlene McKinnon).
Relationships: Dorcas Meadowes & Harry Potter, Harry Potter & Weasley Family, Marlene McKinnon/Dorcas Meadowes
Series: Sapphic September 2019 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1473389
Comments: 10
Kudos: 49





	no seasons for hiding

**Author's Note:**

> Written (very late) for Sapphic September, Day 30: “This is why we can’t have nice things.”
> 
> (Also for a bunch of prompts on Hogwarts' forum on ffn)

It only belatedly occurs to Dorcas that maybe trusting Molly’s kids, which have often been referred to as ‘little hellions’, to babysit Harry might not have been the smartest idea.

Or rather, it occurs to her when she comes home with Marlene to find Harry zooming around on his toy broom — somehow, one of the only salvageable items from his old home at Godric’s Hollow — while the twins egg him on.

Charlie, who they’d trusted as one of the most reasonable-looking kids, is trying to coax Molly’s youngest boy Ron from under the table, while Ginny, the Weasleys’ youngest (and only) girl, is looking at Harry’s broom in a way that says she’d better be next to try it, or  _ else. _

(It’s a look Dorcas had seen many, many times on Marlene’s face, and it makes her smile fondly.)

There are, of course, no sign of Molly’s two other children, but if they’re smart, they’re probably just hiding out in one of the bedrooms.

“Well,” Marlene states in a drawl as she too takes in the room, “I don’t even know why I expected anything different. At least nothing’s on fire.”

As soon as they hear them, the kids freeze (even Harry, of course, though it looks weirder on him as he doesn’t dismount his broom). Dorcas snorts, knocking their shoulders together. “Come on, it’s not that bad, nothing’s on fire, at least.”

“Anymore,” Fred — or maybe George — pipes up, grinning mischievously.

“Anymore,” Dorcas repeats, grinning at Marlene. “See? They’ve got it handled.”

Marlene shakes her head, huffing exasperatedly. “I hope you know this is why we can’t have nice things,” she says, but her eyes are sparkling.

“That’s fine by me, Marl’s. You’re my nice thing anyway.”

She winks, purely to see Marlene give her that exasperated but fond look again. 

“And me!” Harry shouts. “I’m a nice thing too, right?”

Dorcas grins, crossing the room to pull the boy off his broom and into her arms. She snatches the broom from the air and hands it over to Marlene to put away with one hand, and with the other, she bops Harry’s nose, chuckling when he pulls away with a grimace. 

“Of course. You, Harry-dear, are the nicest thing of them all. Isn’t he just, Marl’s?”

Marlene’s lips twitch into a grin. “That he is.”

Embarrassed, Harry hides his face against her neck, and Dorcas smiles as she turns to the present members of the Weasley brood.

“Shouldn’t you all be in bed by now?” she asks, arching an eyebrow.

It’s hilarious, really, seeing all the different reactions. The twins’ eyes go wide and they practically run out of the room, shouting “We’re practically asleep already, really, what’s the difference?”, while their sister simply throws them under the bus, saying she had tried but been unable to sleep because everyone else made too much noise.

Sharing an amused glance with Marlene proves they’re both as convinced by their performances, and Dorcas is still smiling as she ushers the girl to her room.

She joins Charlie’s efforts in dragging Ron out from under the table — something to do with a spider he’d seen — and waves away his apologies.

“Really, Charlie, this went better than we thought it would And Harry had fun, which is really what matters the most.”

Charlie practically wilts in relief, and Dorcas follows the two boys to their shared bedroom, where they do find one of the two missing children, valiantly pretending to have been asleep all along.

Marlene chuckles beside her as she flicks on the light. “Maybe don’t forget to take off your glasses before ‘bed’ next time, Percy,” she says, and Dorcas can’t quite fight back the laugh that slips through her lips at how red the poor boy becomes.

The other missing child is in the other room, quietly glaring his twin brothers into grabbing their toothbrushes and brushing their teeth  _ before _ bed.

“But we’re sleeping,” maybe-Fred pouts, snuggling under his dark blue covers.

“Yes, we’re asleep, can’t you see?” maybe-George continues, faking a deep snore. Shooting stars spark upon his identical bed covers.

“What a shame,” Marlene interrupts dryly, “that boys won’t don’t brush their teeth at night don’t get breakfast in the morning.”

Bill shoots her a deeply relieved look, collapsing back on his own makeshift bed. There is a moment of silence, during which the twins clearly weight up the likelihood of Marlene’s claim and Dorcas does her best to pretend like yes, this is indeed a thing they do in their home, before they spring up from their beds.

Dorcas snorts loudly — they hadn’t even changed into their nightclothes yet.

They leave Harry there too, dropping him on his bed and laughing when he bounces on it a little.

“You okay to stay there tonight?” Dorcas whispers, taking advantage of the fact that the other boys have shuffled along to the bathroom. 

She needn’t have worried.

“I’m fine, Dorcas,” Harry replies, rolling his eyes a little and stifling a yawn. “Ginny’s a  _ girl, _ she needs her own room — she can have mine. ‘sides, it’ll be fun having everyone around.”

“I hope not ‘everyone’ everyone,” Dorcas retorts with a mock-serious glare.

Harry giggles, but doesn’t answer.

Well, as long as he sleeps for  _ some _ of the night… It’s not like they have a busy schedule in the middle of the summer, and it  _ is _ almost Harry’s birthday… Kid might as well learn not to stay up too late with his friends while he’s still young — Morgana knows Dorcas didn’t.

“Well,” she says, bending down to press a kiss to Harry’s forehead, “don’t hesitate to come to me tonight if you need me. For anything, okay, Harry?” she asks, bopping his nose again.

Harry nods solemnly. “Pinky swear.”

“Pinky swear,” Dorcas agrees.

Marlene goes with her as they do one last round of the kids’ rooms — checking that everyone has brushed their teeth, put on their pajamas  _ and _ gotten into bed — before moving back to the living-room.

It looks worse now that the kids aren’t in it, and Dorcas groans.

“I could stick around to help you clean up? If you’d like?” Marlene suggests, though she doesn’t look very enthused by the idea.

“No takebacks,” Dorcas replies gleefully.

“Remind me again where the kids are?” Marlene jokes, but she obligingly takes out her wand.

Here’s Dorcas’ favorite thing about Marlene on nights like this: Marlene is amazing at cleaning charms.

She’s great at most household charms really — and is, unfairly enough, a much better cook than Dorcas too, who ended up deciding to stick with Muggle recipes she couldn’t screw up — but her cleaning charms are really her best work.

Dorcas simply takes a step back and watches her work, the lamps and cushions and — oh, this is where  _ that _ went — dance back into proper shape and then drop back down where they belong.

The feather and duster make the walls and floor sparkle faster than Dorcas could ever have done, and she busies herself with putting the toys back in their box.

It’s a little more delicate — too much magic around those might interfere with their intrinsic charms, as Dorcas has already unfortunately found out — but it distracts her from how nice Marlene’s arms look as she uses her wand to direct the flow of objects flying around the living-room.

Between the two of them, it’s over really quickly.

“Thanks,” Dorcas says, grinning slightly.

“Anytime.” Marlene’s lips curl into a joking smirk. “I remember how hopeless you are at this — how many cushions have you exploded this week?”

Dorcas’ cheeks heat up, but she refuses to respond — which, sadly, is a response in itself.

(It’s seven — but the seventh doesn’t count.)

“Thank you, Marlene,” she repeats instead, trying to sound stern and probably missing by a mile.

“You’re welcome.”

Without truly meaning to, they’ve started moving back to the door, and Dorcas steps up, her hand on it.

“I had fun tonight,” she says.

Marlene grins, her eyes dancing. “I know,” she says. “I did too.”

Dorcas licks her lips. “We should do it again.” 

“We should.” Marlene nods. She doesn’t move to open the door, and neither does Dorcas.

Instead, she takes a step back, and breathes in deeply. “Do you… Do you want to sleep over?” she asks. “Not,” she hastens to add, “for anything —”

“Fun?” Marlene asks, still grinning.

“— untoward,” Dorcas continues, flushing and shooting her a glare. “Just to sleep. It’s late, and I know you live far away, and we did share a bottle of wine, so you shouldn’t be Apparating, and the Knight Bus is nothing more than  _ highway robbery —” _

Marlene silences her with her lips, and Dorcas melts into the kiss.

“Right”, she says when their lips part, shaking her head a little. Her heart is pounding in her chest, and she feels sixteen again. “Right. What was I saying?”

Marlene laughs. “You were asking me to stay over,” she replies. “And I,” her grin deepens, “was accepting. Even if there is to be no ‘funny business’ tonight.”

Dorcas snorts, the familiar banter bringing her back on more even footing. “You’ll live.”

“But will I?” Marlene jokes, laughing as she sidesteps Dorcas’ attempt to swat her arm.

“You will,” she replies, rolling her eyes. “Now come on, I think we’ve left the kids enough time to think we’d gone to be, which means we can go check that they’re actually trying to sleep.”

Marlene laughs. “Devious.”

“Slytherin,” Dorcas counters with a smirk.

“How could I ever forget,” Marlene replies, shaking her head. She slips her hand in Dorcas’, and tugs. “I guess we’d better go then — bust some kids, relive our glory days of Hogwarts prefects, ambushing kids out of bed.”

“And you say  _ I’m _ the devious one.” Dorcas laughs as she follows.

She would follow Marlene anywhere — has, really — but she much prefers this to war-torn villages.

It’s domestic, and everything she’d never dared to hope for while the war was going on.

She hates all that they’ve lost for it to end — all that Harry’s lost — but what they’ve managed to build since?

It’s good.

Yes, she thinks, stumbling after Marlene in the dark to spy on a bunch of preteens, it’s good.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys liked this! I had a lot of fun writing it anyway :)
> 
> Stay safe out there!


End file.
